The Athletic Performance Center is nearly completely enclosed. Installation of glass for the lobby area facing Main Street is expected to begin this week. “Pyramid” shaped skylights will be added in a week or two.
Meanwhile, unseen by sidewalk superintendents, inside the facility electricians are roughing in the electrical systems as the wall framers progress with metal studs. In the basement and west side of the first floor, drywall is being finished and painting has started. The gym in the Men’s Basketball Practice Facility is also being painted in preparation for installation of wood flooring in January and ceramic tile work has started in the basement in the hydrotherapy room.
The especially wet spring and summer delayed some exterior work on the center. Still, the Athletic Performance Center and the Basketball Practice Facility are expected to be complete by late spring or early summer of 2010, with the buildings fully operational when students return to campus next fall.
The last roof truss has been installed on the Athletic Performance Center and the iron workers are now working on the north end-wall structural framing. The roofer has started installation work at the lower roof along the west side of the building and window installation is in progress. And, much work continues on the interior of the building.
Observers soon will see the large crane used to set the structural steel at the north end of the building at the southwest corner of the building for the installation of the precast wall panels on the Practice Gym.
The first roof truss for the Athletic Performance Center on the former site of Robertson Memorial Field House was moved into place on August 31. The roof line and entryway of the new facility will reflect the lines of the historic Field House, making its own architectural statement. The Center, which will include a 4200-seat arena, a Hall of Fame recognizing Bradley legends, women’s locker rooms, offices, and more, will serve as the home court for women’s basketball and volleyball. It is expected to be completed in the late Spring of 2010.
The steel skeleton of the arena project soon will be transformed as precast panels are placed on the east side of the structure starting the last week of July. At the same time air handling units necessary to heat and cool the facility will be placed inside the structure. And, the main arena catwalk system and roof trusses are expected to be set into position in mid-August.
In other developments, the new boiler plant in the lower level of the Main Street parking deck will be fired up the last week of July. The old boilers in Holmes Hall will be phased out once the new plant is up and running. The steam plant provides energy for air conditioning as well as heat and will provide greater energy efficiency due to new technologies.
Dave Snell, voice of the Bradley Braves, guides this virtual tour of the new Men’s Basketball Practice Facility, scheduled to open in the spring of 2010.
Use your imagination and you can see the teams entering the playing floor; see fans in the stands raising signs cheering the Braves; envision a concert stage and a packed house for a Homecoming concert.
The addition in recent weeks of precast panels and structural steel at the Bradley Athletic Performance Center and the Family Men’s Basketball Practice Facility allow the imagination to wander as both projects are evolving into recognizable facilities.
The steel skeleton of both buildings will become more visible as installation continues through July and early August. And, a crane will remain at the heart of it all with roof trusses expected to be put in place the first week in August.
Meanwhile, the concrete trucks continue to roll. Sections of the second floor deck are being poured this week with the east and west sections of the Arena floor to follow soon.
As progress continues on the Athletic Performance Center, alumnus Joey Metzloff is hard at work making sure everything from the wall pouring to the plumbing is on track.
Metzloff, who graduated from Bradley in 2002 with a degree in construction management, is a project manager for Williams Brothers Construction. He likes his job, and especially enjoys managing construction for Bradley’s performance center.
“It’s been really fun working on this project,” Metzloff says. “It means a lot to me because I went to school here and go to all the home basketball games.”
As a project manager for the new facility, Metzloff organizes the schedule, gets the right equipment, schedules deliveries, answers questions from contractors and runs weekly meetings to make sure construction is moving ahead as planned.
Originally from Georgia, Metzloff decided to come to Bradley and study construction. He graduated from a small high school in Atlanta and liked Bradley because it reminded him of home. After graduation, he decided to remain in Peoria and took a job with Williams Brothers.
“Bradley prepared me for my job as project manager,” Metzloff said. “The professors cared a lot about what they taught and made sure I was prepared for a job in the construction industry. I enjoy my job - it’s something different every day.”
The first roof truss for the Athletic Performance Center on the former site of Robertson Memorial Field House was moved into place on August 31. The roof line and entryway of the new facility will reflect the lines of the historic Field House, making its own architectural statement. The Center, which will include a 4200-seat arena, a Hall of Fame recognizing Bradley legends, women’s locker rooms, offices, and more, will serve as the home court for women’s basketball and volleyball. It is expected to be completed in the late Spring of 2010.
Metzloff, who graduated from Bradley in 2002 with a degree in construction management, is a project manager for Williams Brothers Construction. He likes his job, and especially enjoys managing construction for Bradley’s performance center.